Thank you for your thought provoking article! I wonder: do you think that forming deep, short-lasting, sexual friendships is the natural way that humans behave, and when travelling we are freed from all the ‘dating rules’? So with a different mindset, would it be possible to develop these kinds of friendships even if we are homebound? Or, it is only the knowledge that we are soon to part that allows them, so they could never work in a settled lifestyle?
One other point, at the end when you talk about how ‘going home’ terrifies you. There is a third option: make a new home, with a person you love, somewhere far from old home, and live there for a longer while. That’s what I’ve done. Making deep local friendships adds a whole extra dimension on top of short-term friendships with other foreigners.